Book Lovers: April
Posted on April 25, 2012 by Dick Smart in Romance
Au contraire, Mr. Eliot, April is the most romantic month and we have a shower of new romances that will soften the hearts of even the romance wary (or weary).
Every Time I Think of You
Every Time I Think of You, by Jim Provenzano (CreateSpace/Myrmidude Press, 2011)–a 2012 Lambda Award finalist in romance–achieves the delicate balance of allowing its disabled teenaged protagonist to have a realistic sexual experience without fetishising “gimp” sex. Provenzano ably accomplishes this feat by focusing on the sweet relationship between our two teen heroes, Reid Conniff and Everett Forrester, within the larger theme of the naturalness of gay love. Provenzano brings out this theme through Reid’s interest in forestry. (more…)
Book Lovers: March
Posted on March 27, 2012 by Dick Smart in Features, Romance
“Split”
Split is a not-to-be-missed first novel by bi Canadian writer Mel Bossa (Bold Strokes Books, 2011). Bossa uses the clever strategy of telling her tale of adult romance through the background of a rediscovered teen diary. The diary effectively contextualizes and adds tension to the adult story line. Derek O’Reilly, or Red, is presented a long-forgotten diary by his dying Aunt Fran, the woman who raised him in the physical absence of his father and the emotional absence of his mother. Bossa makes Red’s diary almost another character, when she has the eleven-year old Red name his diary Bump for his greatly anticipated, but stillborn, sibling. Bump becomes the split emotional life of the shy Red as he struggles with his budding crush for Nicolai Lund, the older teen brother of Red’s boyhood friend, Boone. The voice of the diary is always believably that of a young boy.
The Swedish-Canadian Lund family becomes Red’s family of choice and Bossa gives us a rich and (more…)
Book Lovers: So You Want to Be a Gay Romance Writer?
Posted on February 22, 2012 by Dick Smart in Features, Romance
In Man, Oh Man, Writing M/M for Cash and Kinks (MLR Press, 2008), Josh Lanyon gives a master class in romance writing for writers wanting to break into the M/M romance market. There is no better guide than Lanyon to writing good romance fiction or simply good fiction, period. Lanyon’s own highly praised romance fiction encompasses contemporary action/suspense, historical and speculative fiction. Lanyon’s Adrien English romance mystery series is recognized as a classic and was the winner of the 2006 USA Book News awards for GLBT Fiction. Lanyon is also an Eppie Award winner and a three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist. In book after book, Lanyon delivers complex romantic relationships driven by believable protagonists. No small accomplishment in a genre filled with cookie-cutter men and unbelievable happy ever afters. (more…)
Book Lovers: Winter Gothic
Posted on January 24, 2012 by Dick Smart in Features, Romance
Haunted Potter
For those of us who longed for a romantic pairing between Harry and Ron at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series, Justin Evans gives us a ghostly whisper in his best-selling Gothic The White Devil from Harper/Collins. The stock characters from every English schoolboy story, made iconic by the Harry Potter series, serve Evans well by evoking the supernaturalism of the Potter books as he creates a modern ghost story that must seem realistic to the reader, even while being as phantastic as needed to be a true ghost story. (more…)
Book Lovers: The 12 Nights of Christmas
Posted on December 20, 2011 by Dick Smart in Features, Romance
“And visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.”
I follow the old tradition and believe that Christmas should be properly celebrated from Christmas Eve on December 24 through the Epiphany on January 6—the 12 days of Christmas. This also means that I get to cash in on all the after Christmas inventory clearance sales in my gift buying. So if you’re reading this column a tad late to influence your gift-giving, take heart and take charge card, because there just might be something here that’s not too late to stuff into your romance-loving boyfriend’s stocking.
The Handsome Prince
Romance stories warm up long winter nights like hot chocolate with marshmallows. Neil Plakcy has edited a charming collection of them in The Handsome Prince, from Cleis Press, 2011 . These Nutcracker princes come in a variety of enchanted shapes in stories that re-imagine classic fairy tales. Get more Plakcy in his marvelous new romance, The Russian Boy (2011, in Kindle Edition at www.amazon.com). Plakcy recaptures the romantic intrigue of Hitchcock’s classic, To Catch a Thief, in this tale of love and art theft set in Nice, with a mature romantic hero reminiscent of the luscious (and bisexual) Cary Grant.
Tchaikovsky’s candy cane princes, Spanish chocolate, Arabian coffee and a Sugar Plum Cavalier, make Christmas a sumptuous gay fantasy, which is why I love to read romance fantasy and adventure at Christmas. Geoffrey Knight’s The Curse of the Dragon God: A Gay Adventure, (Cleis Press, 2011) sends his Fathom’s Five team of muscular gay Indiana Joneses on a journey to as many exotic locales as the Nutcracker Prince himself in pursuit of an elusive cursed diamond. A modern day adventure set in North Africa prior to the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War in 1967, Elliott Mackle’s Captain Harding’s Six-Day War, (Lethe Press, 2011) has more realpolitik and less fantasy, but it is every bit as much erotically charged with a powerful story to match.
The Bad Seed
If you’re stuck in a Connecticut snowstorm without electricity and no boyfriend to keep youwarm, try these two hot thriller collections to get your blood and other things spurting. The Bad Seed by Lee Hayes (Zane Presents by Strebor Books, 2011) combines murder, sex, and love in two chilling novellas that will heat you up quick ( Look for a full review in the January “Book Lovers”). Heartrace, the latest romance horror collection by Rick R. Reed is just out from Amber Quill Press, 2011 with four horror romances that are so good I bought it for myself for my birthday—my bf doesn’t “get” romance novels. The sexy cover by Trace Edward Zaber is slightly unsettling, perfectly illustrating the stories within.
One of my favorite things about romance (besides boys in white jockstraps with blue satin sashes) is the genre within the genre of holiday romance. Every holiday sees a huge list of new titles with pretty covers and intriguing plot devices, as delightful as a big box of Christmas chocolates. It is hard to eat just one and I must somewhat arbitrarily pull out a few to share with you. The always dependable Astrid Amara’s Carol of the Bellskis from Loose ID is an amusing Hanukkah romance.
Carol of the Bellskis
Also from Loose ID is Let It Snow! from Michael Barnette about an icy Anglo ranger and a hot Latino photographer snow-bound together in Rocky Mountain National Park. Go to www.loose-id.com for the full list of their Jingle Bell Rock collection. Torquere Books offers a slightly kinkier take on the holidays with their Holiday Sips series, each title tellingly beginning with the word, “Naughty.” Nothing “nice” about these boys.
MLR Press gifts us every day during the holiday season with a calendar of holiday romance releases beginning with four big romance authors: William Neale’s Christmasing with You, Victor J. Banis’ Holiday C.A.M.P., Derek Adams’ An Early Snow, and Z. A. Maxfield’s A Picture Perfect Holiday. Other favorite authors I can’t wait to unwrap in this collection are Laura Baumbach, J. P. Bowie, Jardonn Smith, Maura Anderson, Neil S. Plakcy and William Cooper, to name a few.
An Early Snow
But keep in mind MLR Press’ other interesting shorts series, such as The Got 5 (or 10 or 20) Minutes? series, William Maltese’s Boys’ Reformatory series, and the new Slaves to Love series by J. P. Bowie.
Dreamspinner’s Press is publishing their delightful annual Advent calendar of holiday romances. The Advent calendar is a full package of 31 stories with one story a day automatically placed on your electronic bookshelf by Santa himself. Dreamspinner’s says that “the full set is around 1,800 pages of romantic M/M fiction” and the earlier you buy, the bigger your bargain. The charming calendar cover is done by Paul Richmond (www.paulrichmondstudio.com). What is so amazing about this collection is that the winter holidays serve as the springboard for these talented authors to explore the full gamut of romance fiction, from the purely erotic to historical romance, fantasy, mystery, contemporary, and ethnic romance. You’ll never have cabin fever in these writers’ hands.
I'll Be Home for Christmas: 2011 Advent Calendar
Meanwhile, as the dread Las Vegas winter descends, I’ll be reporting from poolside in the January “Book Lovers” column on “The White Devil,” the best-selling ghost story/romance by Justin Evans (Harper/Collins, 2011, ).
Book Lovers: Happy Endings
Posted on November 21, 2011 by Dick Smart in Features, Romance
“A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn’t have bothered to write otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows, and in this sense Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood.”
—E. M. Forster, Terminal Note to “Maurice.”
Though this Edwardian grandfather of gay romance wasn’t published until 1971, sometime after its grandchildren were well into their adolescence, E. M. Forster’s Maurice remains a forerunner and not just an afterthought. The recent publication of a “sequel” to Forster’s novel of homosexual love, End of Story by John M. Bowers, professor of English literature at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (Sunstone Press, 2010, with a beautiful cover painting by Michael Bergt) affords us an opportunity to (re)discover just how much Maurice still remains ahead of its time. (more…)
Rick R. Reed: Master of Romance and Horror
Posted on October 26, 2011 by Dick Smart in Interviews, Romance
“When fiction is made according to its nature, it should reinforce our sense of the supernatural by grounding it in concrete, observable reality.” -Flannery O’Connor
The Caregiver, the latest by the prolific Rick R. Reed, due out this month from Dreamspinner Press (cover art by Paul Richmond), is a straightforward traditional romance that may surprise his large horror romance fan base. But as Reed points out, “I am not one to stay within the lines when it comes to genre.” Readers who are fans of his horror romances know that they can trust Reed to deliver solid stories and strong characters and that trust is rewarded in this powerfully, satisfying romance set in the midst of the AIDS crises in the mid-90s. (more…)
Book Lovers: Back to School
Posted on September 13, 2011 by Dick Smart in Features, Reviews, Romance
Lord of the Fraternity
Todd Gregory returns to Polk State for Games Frat Boys Play (Kensington Books), the sequel to Every Frat Boy Wants It and the homo action is as hot as ever at Beta Kappa house. Good thing our hero, Jordy Valentine, has just gotten a high-priced Swiss boarding school education that allows him to sail through his classes while scarcely opening a textbook. Jordy was originally headed to Harvard, but he decided he wanted the experience of being “normal.” (more…)
Book Lovers: Detour
Posted on August 23, 2011 by Dick Smart in Features
If you’ve been detoured from your fabulous summer vacation by this crappy economy, these four tales of re-routed journeys will take you places you may not have expected to go while lazing about on your chaise lounge on your staycation. (more…)
Book Lovers: A Conversation with Erik Orrantia, 2011 Lambda Literary Award Winner for Gay Romance
Posted on July 17, 2011 by Dick Smart in Features, Interviews, Romance
Erik Orrantia, author of the 2011 Lambda Literary Award winning gay romance, Normal Miguel (Cheyenne Publishing), was in Sedona with friends when he found out he won. He says, “I celebrated with a Fuzzy Navel and a steak dinner.” Although the novel about a year in the life of a young school teacher in rural Mexico has met with universal acclaim, Orrantia says that given the caliber of the other romance finalists, “I was overwhelmed with surprise” when he won the award. A close friend who had assisted in editing the manuscript told him, “I knew it was good, I didn’t know it was that good!” (more…)
